Effect of information on the strategic behavior of customers in a discrete-time bulk service queue

Abstract

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>We consider the equilibrium and socially optimal behavior of strategic customers in a discrete-time queue with bulk service. The service batch size varies from a single customer to a maximum of '<i>b</i>' customers. We study the equilibrium and socially optimal balking strategies under two information policies: observable and unobservable. In the former policy, a service provider discloses the queue length information to arriving customers and conceals it in the latter policy. The effect of service batch size and other queueing parameters on the equilibrium strategies under both information policies are compared and illustrated with numerical experiments.